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First group of Red Bulls returns from Kuwait

About 100 Red Bull soldiers are stateside Thursday after a year-long deployment with the Minnesota National Guard.

The first group of soldiers from the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 34th Infantry Division has arrived in Mississippi after a year-long deployment in Kuwait.

Minnesota National Guard spokeswoman Kristen Auge said these soldiers will stay at Camp Shelby to help receive the larger group that arrives in the next couple weeks.

"They'll be a review of their medical and dental, and they'll be attending briefings of the benefits they can receive," Auge said. "There's going to be equipment turn in and also going over some administrative duties to make sure that their pay is correct, such as the leave that they'll earn from having served."

More than 2,500 soldiers will spend about seven days at Camp Shelby before they return to Minnesota.

Armories around the state are preparing for homecoming ceremonies over the next month.

The brigade supported the drawdown of troops from Iraq. It was the largest deployment of the Minnesota National Guard since World War II.